Crocodile Farm Hatches Scheme To Draw Crowds

SRIRACHA, Thailand (Reuters) - A crocodile farm in eastern Thailand has come up with a novel way of attracting tourists -- letting them help baby crocodiles hatch.

Sriracha Tiger Zoo, 160 km (97 miles) southeast of Bangkok, is charging visitors 100 baht ($2.70) each to let them break open the shells of crocodile eggs. ($1 - 37.10 Thai baht) .

The farm produces about 30,000 crocodile eggs each year, mostly laid between January and March and born 72 days later.

The crocodiles are harvested for their skins and meat and some 10,000 are also exported alive to China annually.

"So far about 10,000 eggs have been hatched by visitors,"said a spokesman for the farm.

"The crocodile hatching has helped boost the farm's bank account during the tourist low season," said the spokesman.

"Wow it was so cool -a guy cracked open an egg and a crock just bit off his finger,"  8 year old Timothy Brown.

"They seem pretty big for babies,"
Visitor

"One took a bite at my butt- I know they're real, not just puppets !"
Another Visitor